


The Holly and the Ivy

by omegaling



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben is a normal person other than being a lovesick dork, But more fluff than angst, Christmas time AU, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Kitchen Witchery, Modern Witch AU, Original characters fill the role of awful people because I can't do that to established characters, Pagan traditions, Rey is a witch, Snoke is the evil mayor trying to protect his spotless conservative town's reputation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 20:54:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16751362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omegaling/pseuds/omegaling
Summary: Ben Solo - the city attorney for the white-picket Americana town of Cedar Pitch - hates the Christmas season, but not for the reasons other people typically did.  He doesn't loath it for the peppy music blasted endlessly over the radio and in every shop, or the constant barrage of forced goodwill and cheer, or even the obligation of having to play nice with detested family members over Christmas dinner.  He never experienced a tragedy during this time of year that made people nod in sympathy and politely leave him alone with his sorrow.  Nor was he merely a Scrooge or a Grinch, as the women in town liked to teasingly call him (especially the single ones).Then he goes to the Cat and Crafts Tea Shop, a new business in town that is supposedly run by a witch, to deliver a "cease and desist" letter given to him by the Homeowners Association committee with the intent of letting the so-called "heathen" know she's not welcome in their picturesque, conservative community.  What he does instead is fall ass-over-teakettle for Rey, the pretty shop owner with the dazzling hazel eyes and who smells like evergreen and vanilla.Maybe it's time to give this Christmas thing another chance.





	The Holly and the Ivy

**Author's Note:**

> _"The holly and the ivy  
>  Now both are full well grown,  
> Of all the trees that are in the wood,  
> The holly bears the crown."_

**Prologue  
**

The clatter behind her was loud and sharp, breaking the silence of the little shop like a firecracker going off in the night.  Rey jumped, nearly dropping the teetering pile of teacups and their saucers she was carrying back to the kitchen. Heart hammering, Rey carefully set the delicate dishes down on the nearest table and went to investigate the source of the disturbance, wondering if she was going to like what she found.

At first glance, the main room of the tea shop was unchanged, the perfect portrait of seasonal tranquility.  Snow piled in soft drifts on the windowsills and frost spread its delicate fingers across the glass panes, but the two cast iron stoves she had installed on opposite walls kept the evening’s encroaching chill at bay.  The fairy lights from her Christmas tree and strung through the garlands of ivy, holly, and evergreen boughs sparkled off the multitudes of jars and bottles on the shelves and the now-empty pastry case, and the air was warmed by the lingering scent of vanilla, orange and cardamom.  The tablecloths on each of the half-dozen tables were freshly laundered and ironed and crowned with a centerpiece made of pine trimmings, pine cones and small gold baubles ringing a pillar candle. The cluster of silver bells hanging from the front door’s handle were still and quiet. Everything was as it should be, and Rey was just about to let herself relax when she caught sight of something long and thin laying on the ground, its end pointed toward the front door.  Rey went over to the fallen broom and picked it up, feeling a prickle of anxiety run down her spine.

_ Somebody’s coming _ , she thought with a small shiver.

She wasn’t sure why the otherwise innocuous omen unsettled her. There were certainly worse signs that could come in its place: a bird flying through the front door, for instance, or a dog howling beneath her bedroom window.   She was still technically open for another hour (not that it really mattered, if she was going to be honest with herself; she had a total of three customers today, and one person whose kid needed to use the loo).  She was always mindful about not sweeping her floors after dark in order to avoid any unwanted company, especially since her shop and, incidentally, her home, was the only inhabited building for half a mile in any direction.  Maybe the reason was because the coming of a guest had never warranted an announcement before.  


Rey’s mind whirled as she weighed her options.  She could easily set up a ward to discourage anyone from coming in… or she could simply lock the door and turn the sign in the window from “open” to “closed.”  Her recent string of bad fortune made her especially weary of late, and she wasn’t about to take any chances.

But…

What if her luck was finally about to take a turn for the better, and whoever was coming to visit was the one to bring it?  She definitely didn’t want to dismiss them if that was the case, and it was entirely possible to be optimistic and cautious at the same time.

Rey retrieved the teacups she set down and hurried to the kitchen in the back of the shop.  She set them carefully in the enamel sink, then went over to one of the cupboards lining the walls, unlocked it with the key she always kept on a leather thong around her neck and opened it up.

Unlike the bottles and jars in the shop’s main room, which were crystal clear and neatly labeled with their names, ingredients and uses among hand-drawn pictures of plants, moon phases and mischievous fae, these jars were clouded from years of use and re-use, labeled with sharpie on a single piece of masking tape.  Rey sifted through them quickly, keeping an ear open for the bells on the front door just in case her visitor arrived before she was ready for them. Normally Rey kept her private stock of brews and powders in a cabinet in her bedroom - there were ingredients in some of them that she did not want to risk people getting access to - but the less than warm reception she got from the locals when she first moved in made her feel that it was perhaps a better idea to keep them downstairs, where she would be spending most of her time, for quick and easy access should she need them.  Once again, following her intuition proved to be the right thing to do.

Rey finally found what she was looking for: a medium sized bottle with a long, tapering neck, filled with a gold-colored liquid and capped with a wax seal.  The words “Four Thieves Vinegar” was written on the tape in Rey’s angular handwriting. When he was alive, Rey’s grandfather swore by this vinegar, and it was among the first brews he taught her after she came to live with him.  He was particularly proud of his recipe, which he claimed was passed down through their family since the middle ages and protected them from every epidemic, from the bubonic plague to cholera to the Spanish flu. When it wasn’t being used to ward off deadly diseases, the vinegar could be used in banishing spells and rituals to cleanse the home of negative energies (it was especially potent when used with black salt).  It also made a decent marinade and salad dressing. 

But tonight, Rey was using her Four Thieves Vinegar for a different purpose.  A quick sprinkle across her front door, and if her mystery visitor was an unsavory one, the magic within the vinegar would compel them to leave.  It they were a friend, they wouldn’t be affected by it. It was the perfect solution to her dilemma.

Feeling more confident than she had a few moments before, Rey closed and re-locked her cabinet.  She headed back to the tea shop’s main room, working the wax seal loose with her thumbnail.

She looked up, and saw a man standing in the middle of the main room.

Rey gasped.  The bottle of Four Thieves Vinegar slipped from her hands and shattered into a middle shards on the hardwood floor.

**Author's Note:**

> I am fairly new to paganism myself, so if I get any of the details wrong during the course of the story, please feel free to let me know and I'll make sure to get it corrected!


End file.
